Limbo
by marauderX
Summary: "Fred... You're dead..." "Hey, that rhymes!"
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"It was white. Like, really white. So white my mum would have wanted our kitchen to be this spotless. Groaning as I sat up, I yelped as I realized that I wasn't clothed. Then I yelped again as I realized I wasn't alone./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"Some blonde girl was sitting on a bench a little ways away. Her head was turned away from me, which I was grateful for. A small pile of clothes was two feet away and I quickly slipped into them. The girl didn't turn though, even though I made quite a bit of noise. Walking over to her, I realized how outdated her clothes were./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"And this is coming from a guy who bought a dragon skin suit./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She had a white and blue patterned shirt under an olive jacket-dress. Her hair was slicked back and voluminous. It was not modern dress. The strange white room thing made her seem even more out of place./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"The colour she added to this white place – what was this? King's Cross Station? – was harsh. As I finally reached the bench she was sitting on, she turned. Her blue eyes met my brown ones and I sucked in a breath. She was gorgeous./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""You're Fred?" She asked in a musical voice, a slight accent making the question a little huskier./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"I nodded, unsure what to say. She smiled, her red lips curving up beautifully./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""I'm Calla. I'm sure you want to know what's happening."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"I nodded again. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I had only ever had this feeling once; when Angelina walked down the staircase while I waited for her, a little nervous about the whole Yule Ball concept. And while Angelina was gorgeous (and into quidditch, which made her even more fit) and smart and my type, she couldn't compare to Calla./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"Of course, I still loved Angie. And I had only just met this lady. So Angie was still my girl. But there was no doubt, Calla was amazingly gorgeous./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Well, you've… you've died." Calla started fidgeting with her dress and bit her ruby red lips. It was sinfully attractive. "And now you're in limbo."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She looked up from the ground where she was staring and our gazes met. Her blue eyes showed her concern for me./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Limbo? Like that party game?" I asked, giggling and running a hand through my hair. I never had been good with dealing with big things. "You'd think it'd be a little bit more colourful."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"Calla sighed and crossed her (long) legs, placing her hands in her lap. "Fred… You're dead…"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Hey, that rhymes!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She frowned. "You're taking this extremely well," she said in her strange accent./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""I deal with things in my own way."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""By joking and pulling pranks instead of facing your problems?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"I smiled. "Spot on, babe." She seemed to stiffen and I let my smile drop. "So what is limbo?" I asked after a minute or so of silence./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She seemed relieved by the distraction. "Well you know how ghosts work?" I nodded and she continued. "Limbo is kind of like a semi-permanent ghost-like trance, but for wizards, witches and muggles killed by magical means – but don't ask me why, I don't know. Those who go to Limbo have unfinished business on earth. And then when they finish it, they leave. You said this was like King's Cross Station? Well in the travel sense, it is. We come here one way and we can only leave in the other direction, but only when all our metaphorical baggage has been checked."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"I nodded, gesturing towards the empty seat on the bench. Calla nodded and I took a few steps in that direction before sitting down. Resting my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands, I look a long, deep breath. A small hand rested on the small of my back and I flinched at the touch./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"What the hell was happening? First, I'm part of this crazy nutter of a battle, dodging curses and stunning bints in silver masks. Then I wake up in this white version of King's Cross that's apparently called Limbo with this beautiful girl who looks like she's from the fifties, telling me I have unfinished business on earth./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"Problem is, I don't know what it is./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Well, how do I finish this unfinished business? I can't very well stay here."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"Calla frowned. "I don't think I'm the best person to ask."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Why not?" I lifted my head and frowned back./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She gave me a look. "Fred, how old do you think I am?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"I blushed. My mum had always told me not to comment on a woman's age./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""19?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She blushed as well. "22, but that's beside the point. Let me rephrase that. How long ago do you think I was born?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""I don't know. 40 years ago?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She smiled and put one of her soft palms on my right cheek, staring into my eyes. "I was born on November 16th, 1924. I died in 1946."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"I tried to keep the shock off my face, but I honestly couldn't. She didn't seem to be that old. Of course, she still looked 22, or maybe even younger, but I couldn't believe she was technically 74 years old./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""How… how is that possible?" I asked quietly. "You said you could only 'move on' after your unfinished business is finally finished, so how come it's been 50 years and you still have unfinished business?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She took her hand away from my face and placed it back in her lap. Looking down, she bit her lip and I saw a small tear glide down her cheek./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Everyone leaves at one point, you know. Either they finish what they needed to finish or they walk down the 'platform.' Those in Limbo don't like being around each other. It's too painful. Either someone leaves the other and the one left behind has to cope with the abandonment, or the two watch each other become more and more depressed. Limbo isn't a very hopeful or happy place."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She looked at me, tears racing down her cheeks./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""My full name was Calla Lily Antonescu. I was a muggle and I was born in Albania and lived there until I died. The day I died, I was waiting for the man I loved in the woods. You see, my father was a notable duke and I fell in love with an English traveler. My father disapproved wholeheartedly. The man had no family, no job, nothing. And I had everything. My parents were scared that he wanted me for my connections. For my money./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""But I was 22 and foolish. He had told me he was a butcher and had secured a local job cutting down some of the trees in the forest, but that in a week they were going to fire him. I had tried to give him some of my more precious jewels to sell. I didn't want him to leave me. But he refused like the gentleman he was."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"He eyes shined as she talked and I felt a little jealous./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""One day, we were having a picnic and he proposed. I was overjoyed and I accepted, giddy with excitement. He told me my father would never consent to giving him my hand in marriage and asked me to run away. He said he had found a church that would stay open late and marry us, as well as a cabin deep in the woods where we could live for a while. Then he promised to bring me back to England and give me a good life, the kind I deserved./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""I told him to meet me under my bedroom window at midnight. Part of me didn't think he would show, but he did, his dark hair shining in the moonlight. I had already gotten my maids to pack a small bag with thin dresses and other necessities, and I put on an outfit I thought would be a pretty wedding dress substitute since I had no white dresses."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"Her fingers fluttered at the edges of the sleeves of her dress./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""I had another small bag of precious jewels and priceless family heirlooms. I threw the two bags down to him and he caught them. I climbed down the side of the house – there were vines that I used regularly when my father forbade me to leave the manor. Once I got down, he kissed me so lightly and told me I was gorgeous."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"I smiled as she did. She emwas/em very beautiful./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""We took the bags and left, heading towards the woods. Once we got far in, I asked where the church was. He gave me a look and told me there wasn't to be a church visit tonight. Then I asked where the cabin was. He said we only had a few more minutes to go. I started to get nervous but he kept my hand gripped in his./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""After a few minutes, he stopped in a clearing. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled and pulled out a small stick. I asked him what he was doing but he didn't answer. Then I saw a flash of green light… Then nothing. Next thing I remember I woke up here."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She looked up at me, her cheeks wet with tears and her eyes betraying her broken heart. I had a sick feeling in my gut./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Calla, what have you been waiting to finish?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Fred, if I had it my way, I emwould/em have married him that night. Had I known he was a wizard, I would have still loved him."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Calla…"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Those is Limbo can see what's happening in the real world you know. Muggle or wizarding. Most choose to watch the wizarding world because that's where they're from, but I was a muggle."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""I don't know where you're going with this…"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""I watched my family get ripped apart by my disappearance. Watched police officers drag my body out of a hole in the ground 30 years later. Watched my parents die, knowing that because they died naturally, and because I had unfinished business, I would probably never see them again."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"She gave me a strange look and took a breath./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""I watched the wizarding world after a while. Watched the love of my life murder dozens more. Kill babies and mothers only because they were muggles. Because they were like me. And when they found their way to Limbo, and I told them my story, they would lash out, screaming about how I was a deluded young girl who trusted and loved a man afflicted with insanity…"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;"Her voice broke and I reached over to grab one of her hands./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;""Fred, I can't have you think less of me because of who I loved, of why I can't leave Limbo." She stared up at me and I nodded, silently promising her that nothing she could say would make me judge her. "I fell in love with a beautiful man when I was younger. Dark hair, dark eyes… Dark heart. If I had it my way, the night I died, I would have been married. And I would've become Mrs. Tom Riddle."/p 


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